KUALA LUMPUR: THE recent death of 4-year-old Aina Batrisha Aisyah Shaiful Azrul of heatstroke after she was accidentally left by her father in his parked car in Kedah has triggered a public debate, with the girl's family bearing the burden of public criticism.
The abuse hurled at the girl's father, a lorry driver, has led to a member of the family appealing to the public to stop the attacks, saying the man had suffered enough.
Experts believe that such cases, while isolated, are a reflection of a real problem and there could be a psychological explanation.
Psychotherapist and researcher Dr Chua Sook Ning said Forgotten Baby Syndrome describes a situation where parents lose awareness of their child in the car.
She said there were three categories of parents in hot car child death cases, according to a research paper by Western Michigan University Cooley Law School assistant dean and associate professor Erika Breitfeld published in May.
"There are parents who truly forget their children in the car, parents who take calculated risks because they are uneducated about the danger of leaving children in cars and parents who commit criminally negligent and intentional filicide," said Chua, who is also a lecturer at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
She said more education for parents and more regulation was needed on child safety in cars.
She cited child car seats as an example, which was made mandatory in Malaysia only in January.
In the case of Aina's death, she said, it was unfair for the public to criticise her family as the investigation was ongoing.
"It is uncertain what the cause of this incident is. It is not fair to the family to speculate what led to this incident.
"It is important not to be quick to judge this family and cause more pain to them before the results of the investigation (are revealed)."
Breitfeld, in the 35-page article, offered prosecutors guidance on how to analyse these cases, urging them to advocate for reform in their communities.
Associate Professor Dr Mohd Awang Idris from Universiti Malaya's Department of Anthropology and Sociology said more effort was needed to educate parents and to prevent future tragedies.
"In the recent case, I don't blame the father as no parent in their right mind would want to cause harm to their children.
"The public shouldn't judge the parents who must be grieving over the loss of their child.
"Instead, we should investigate the root cause and address the problem to prevent a recurrence.
"These checks should cover the socioeconomic and psychological aspects and whether the parents were overworked or stressed," said Awang, who is also Asia Pacific Academy for Psychosocial Factors at Work president.
He said parents today face tough challenges in raising their children due to the rising cost of living and growing work responsibilities.
"In the past, some parents can afford to stay home to care for their children.
"Families were close-knit and it was common to have relatives living together.
"Nowadays, both parents work long hours. Though some family members can help (with taking care of children), they may also be facing the same problems.
"Due to a lack of resources, some people prioritise surviving and safety takes a back seat."
Awang brought up cognitive failure, which are minor slips that cause the normally smooth flow of an action to be disrupted.
"It's like instances where we look for keys or a mobile phone that we already have on us after we get distracted by something.
"This error is usually harmless, but in some instances, it can lead to death."
He said there was a need to relook at child safety measures and how society could play a role in educating and reminding each other on their importance rather than reacting only after a tragedy had occurred.
"More awareness campaigns are needed to educate the public and instill a mindset that a child must never be left unattended in a vehicle, for whatever reason.
"The community should play a more active part in preventing such incidents by reporting irresponsible parents or guardians, not to punish them, but to most importantly keep children out of harm's way."